One of the 12 founding members of the Football League and a dominant force in its early days, eight of Villa's 14 domestic honors came in the 1890s. A brief flourish of glory at the start of the 1980s brought a first European trophy and its most recent league title, but the Villains are now mired midtable, hoping new American owner Randy Lerner will fund new manager Martin O'Neill to make a renewed push to join the Premiership's elite.